British Troops To Assault Oman Fort

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28347, 5 August 1957, Page 11

British Troops To Assault Oman Fort

(N.Z Press Association-Copyright) (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) MANAMAH (Bahrein, Persian Gulf), August 3.

British troops today moved into Muscat territory to support a planned assault shortly on the big round fort of Nizwa, headquarters of the rebel forces in Oman and Muscat. The commander of the British forces in the Arabian Peninsula, Air Vice-Marshal Laurence Sinclair, told a special press conference that the attack on the fort would be launched in the “near future.”

The British troops were moving in by land and air, he said, to support a strike as soon as possible.

Muscat, where the supporters of the pro-British Sultan, Said Bin Taimur, are concentrated, is the coastal region round Oman of which Nizwa is the ancient capital. The rebellious tribesmen led by Sheikh Ghaleb Bin Ali, the Imam (spiritual head) of Oman, and his brother, Taleb Bin Ali, took Nizwa after their uprising last month.

Air Vice Marshal Sinclair declared today that the Cameronians w-.re in process of moving into Muscat territory and some armoured cars from the 15th/19lh Hussars in Aden were also coming. -

“We have established ourselves in Ibri and made certain that there is no movement to Buraimi,” he said.

“We arc now ready for the next step,' which is the re-entry of the Sultan’s forces into Oman, particularly Nizwa. “The key factor in the re-entry of the Sultan’s forces is one of speed. Delay will not do good anywhere. “So far we have been successful at nibbling at the edges, and at the centre we now know there i$ a fairly hard core of resolute men.

“Taleb has brought in men frojn outside trained in modern weapons. We are therefore going to use adequate forces to do the job. “We are going to use a limited number of British forces and Trucial Oman scouts.”